1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an infant heel heat pack with a nonwoven backing that is soft and skin friendly for contacting a baby's foot. The nonwoven backing insulates the infant's skin from burning, promotes the nesting of the heat pack around the heel and can be wetted to soften the skin.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Blood samples are drawn from the heel of infants. To promote blood circulation in the heel area, heat is applied with a heat pack. Such heat packs are commonly formed as a plastic pouch with a supercooled aqueous salt solution. A trigger is included in the pouch which when manually manipulated initiates crystallization of the supercooled liquid releasing heat.
A front and back panel of a flexible polymer are sealed together about the side edges to form the plastic pouch which is preferably clear such that the trigger can be seen through the pouch. After crystallization has been triggered, the heat pack is taped on the infant's heel with the rear plastic panel pressed against the baby's skin. To soften the skin, nurses will wet the infant's heel with a wet cloth prior to inserting a needle.